Debutants Terengganu, powered by six national players, are optimistic of winning at least one title in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) which begins on March 22.

The team will be led by national skipper and midfielder Mohd Shahrun Nabil, who is currently playing in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh.

The other national players in the squad are defender Azlan Misron, midfielders Mohd Fitri Saari and Jivan Mohan and forwards Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin and Mohd Amerullah Abdul Aziz.

They have also roped in goalkeeper Khairulnizam Ibrahim, who is in the national training squad and Project 2013 keeper Azrul Faiz Ahmad Sofi.

The rest of the players are from the team who won the Razak Cup in Kuantan last September. Terengganu have emerged as the new powerhouse in hockey as they also won the Sukma (Malaysia Games) title in Kuantan last July.

Terengganu team manager Mohd Saberi Salleh said they decided to enter a team for the MHL after the splendid outings in the Razak Cup and Sukma last year.

“We have taken over from Kuala Lumpur as the new hockey force. Although we will be making our debut in the MHL, we are confident of winning one title,” said Saberi, who is also the Terengganu HA secretary.

“We have enough depth in every department to put up a strong challenge in the league.

“We have been training since January and currently the players are going through intensive training to prepare for the league which begins next week,” said Saberi.

Besides Terengganu, six other teams who will play in the Premier Division of the MHL are double champions KL Hockey Club (KLHC), Tenaga Nasional, Maybank, Sapura, Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) and Nur Insafi.

Saberi said that KLHC and Tenaga Nasional are the two teams who can pose a big threat to Terengganu’s hopes of winning a title.

Seven teams will feature in Division One. They are Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School (SSTMI), Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS), Uniten-KPT, UiTM, Sunday 2030, Ipoh City Council (MBI) and TNB-Thunderbolt.